2019 Florida A&M Rattlers football team

The 2019 Florida A&M Rattlers football team represented Florida A&M University in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Rattlers were led by second-year head coach Willie Simmons. They played their home games at Bragg Memorial Stadium and were a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). Florida A&M finished the year 9–2, 7–1 in MEAC play to finish with the best overall record in the MEAC and across all HBCU schools. However, in May 2019, Florida A&M was banned from 2019 postseason play,[1] so could not compete in the Celebration Bowl or for a MEAC championship.

2019 Florida A&M Rattlers football
ConferenceMid-Eastern Athletic Conference
Ranking
STATSNo. 24
FCS CoachesNo. 25
2019 record9–2 (7–1 MEAC)
Head coachWillie Simmons (2nd season)
Home stadiumBragg Memorial Stadium
(Capacity: 25,500)
2019 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
No. 24 Florida A&M *  7 –1     9 –2  
No. 20 North Carolina A&T +  6 –2     9 –3  
South Carolina State +  6 –2     8 –3  
Bethune–Cookman  5 –3     7 –4  
Norfolk State  4 –4     5 –7  
North Carolina Central  3 –5     4 –8  
Howard  2 –6     2 –10  
Morgan State  2 –6     3 –9  
Delaware State  1 –7     2 –10  
  • + – Conference co-champions
  • * Florida A&M ineligible for conference title due to NCAA sanctions
Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season
Main article: 2018 Florida A&M Rattlers football team

The Rattlers finished the 2018 season 6–5, 5–2 in MEAC play to finish in a tie for second place.

Preseason

MEAC poll

In the MEAC preseason poll released on July 26, 2019, the Rattlers were predicted to finish in third place.[2]

Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1North Carolina A&T304 (12)
2Bethune–Cookman237 (1)
3Florida A&M204 (2)
4Howard166
5North Carolina Central161 (1)
6South Carolina State152
7Norfolk State119 (1)
8Morgan State87 (1)
9Delaware State46

Preseason All–MEAC teams

The Rattlers had eleven players selected to the preseason all-MEAC teams.[3]

Schedule
DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
August 29 7:30 p.m. at No. 17 (FBS) UCF*
CBSSN L 0–62 44,073
September 14 6:00 p.m. Fort Valley State*
ESPN3 W 57–20 17,911
September 21 6:00 p.m. Southern*
  • Bragg Memorial Stadium
  • Tallahassee, FL
ESPN3 W 27–21 27,191
September 28 4:00 p.m. at Norfolk State
ESPN3 W 30–28 8,249
October 5 2:00 p.m. North Carolina Central
  • Bragg Memorial Stadium
  • Tallahassee, FL
ESPN3 W 28–21 25,679
October 12 2:00 p.m. at South Carolina State
ESPN3 W 42–38 15,792
October 20 2:00 p.m. No. 10 North Carolina A&T
  • Bragg Memorial Stadium
  • Tallahassee, FL
ESPN3 W 34–31 1,051
October 26 3:00 p.m. at Morgan State No. 20
ESPN3 W 24–12 2,786
November 2 4:00 p.m. Delaware State No. 17
  • Bragg Memorial Stadium
  • Tallahassee, FL
ESPN3 W 52–30 7,412
November 16 4:00 p.m. Howard No. 12
  • Bragg Memorial Stadium
  • Tallahassee, FL
ESPN3 W 39–7 8,979
November 23 3:30 p.m. vs. Bethune–Cookman No. 12
ESPNews L 27–31 55,730
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Eastern time

[4][5]

Game summaries

at UCF
1 2 3 4 Total
Rattlers 0 0 0 0 0
No. 17 (FBS) Knights 17 31 7 7 62
See also: 2019 UCF Knights football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
1–0 1987 W, 19–14

Fort Valley State
1 2 3 4 Total
Wildcats 0 0 6 14 20
Rattlers 14 26 7 10 57
Overall record Last meeting Result
11–1 2018 W, 41–7

Southern
1 2 3 4 Total
Jaguars 0 7 7 7 21
Rattlers 17 0 2 8 27
See also: 2019 Southern Jaguars football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
35–25–1 2012 L, 14–21

at Norfolk State
1 2 3 4 Total
Rattlers 7 10 6 7 30
Spartans 7 7 7 7 28
See also: 2019 Norfolk State Spartans football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
14–3 2018 W, 17–0

North Carolina Central
1 2 3 4 Total
Eagles 0 7 7 7 21
Rattlers 7 7 0 14 28
See also: 2019 North Carolina Central Eagles football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
8–4–1 2018 W, 55–14

at South Carolina State
1 2 3 4 Total
Rattlers 7 7 14 14 42
Bulldogs 0 14 3 21 38
See also: 2019 South Carolina State Bulldogs football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
30–26–2 2018 L, 21–44

North Carolina A&T
1 2 3 4OT Total
No. 10 Aggies 7 7 3 113 31
Rattlers 14 7 0 76 34
See also: 2019 North Carolina A&T Aggies football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
45–19–3 2018 W, 22–21

at Morgan State
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 20 Rattlers 7 17 0 0 24
Bears 7 3 0 2 12
See also: 2019 Morgan State Bears football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
23–8 2018 W, 38–3

Delaware State
1 2 3 4 Total
Hornets 0 3 20 7 30
No. 17 Rattlers 14 17 14 7 52
See also: 2019 Delaware State Hornets football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
25–9 2016 W, 41–27

Howard
1 2 3 4 Total
Bison 0 0 0 7 7
No. 12 Rattlers 3 14 22 0 39
See also: 2019 Howard Bison football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
27–11 2018 L, 23–31

vs. Bethune–Cookman
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 12 Rattlers 7 6 7 7 27
Wildcats 7 14 0 10 31
See also: 2019 Bethune–Cookman Wildcats football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
49–23–1 2018 L, 19–33

Ranking movements
Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
Week
Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Final 
STATS FCS NR NR NR NR NR NR NR RV 20 17 16 12 12 20 24 
Coaches NR NR NR NR NR NR NR RV 23 17 15T 14 13 21 25

References
  1. "NCAA Hits FAMU Athletics With Penalties Over Ineligible Student Athletes". wfsu.org. May 22, 2019. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  2. "MEAC Announces 2019 Football Predicted Order of Finish". meacsports.com. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
  3. "MEAC Announces 2019 Preseason Football All-MEAC Awards". meacsports.com. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
  4. "2019 Florida A&M Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
  5. "Football - Schedule - FAMUAthletics.com - The Official Athletics Site of Florida A&M University". www.famuathletics.com. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
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